Troublesome Number Seven
by Aiko Yamarashi
Summary: Ino was in desperate need of a distraction, and she had her closest friends on speed dial.


**My first one-shot! (Also my first ShikaIno story.) Hope you like it!**

Title: Troublesome Number Seven

Summary: Ino was in desperate need of a distraction, and she had her closest friends on speed dial.

XxX

It took Ino ten minutes to lay out all of her books and binders to start working on her paper for English. It took her five seconds to decide to put it off.

"I hate English," Ino groaned, falling back on her floor with a _flop_. "And English papers."

Then, she had a brilliant idea. She sprang up into a sitting position and whipped out her cell phone.

"I'm sure my friends are having withdrawals from not talking to me, so I should just call them," she decided cheerfully. "I mean, my friends' happiness is _way _more important than some stupid English paper, right?"

—Speed Dial 1—

There were a few rings on the other end of the phone, and then an automated voice answered, "You have no new messages."

"Oops, I forgot voicemail was on speed dial," Ino, laughed, hanging up. "Next."

—Speed Dial 2—

Sakura picked up after two rings.

"Hey, Forehead-Girl!" Ino yelled into the phone.

"Ino-Pig, do your English paper," Sakura said, and then the line went dead.

"Hello?" Ino asked, looking around nervously. "Helloooo?"

—Speed Dial 3—

"Yes, Sweetie?" her dad answered.

"Oh, hi, Dad," Ino said. She really needed to look over her speed dial list.

"Ino, I'm downstairs," her father pointed out.

"I know, Dad, but I just wanted to see what was up," Ino explained. "I don't _really_ need to go downstairs, do I?"

"No," he answered. "What you _need_ to do, is finish your English paper."

"But, Dad—"

"Bye, Ino!"

"…Hello?"

—Speed Dial 4—

"I-Ino-chan?" Hinata answered.

"Hi, Hina-chan!" Ino replied cheerfully. "What's up?"

"I'm just trying to finish my English paper." It kept coming back to haunt her…

"Oh, well, why don't you take a break?" Ino suggested.

"No, I really need to finish this," Hinata said. "I'm sorry. I'll call you back later."

"Don't worry about it," Ino sighed. "Finish it up."

"Alright," Hinata said, sounding guilty. "Bye, Ino-chan."

"Bye, Hina-chan," Ino said, all of her cheerfulness gone. Did _no one_ want to talk to her?

—Speed Dial 5—

"What's up, Ino?" Tenten answered.

"Oh, nothing's up, Tennie-chan," she said. "I was just calling to find out what's up with you."

"I'm working, Ino," Tenten said. "Can this wait until later? Like _much _later?"

Ino sighed dejectedly. "Yeah, sure, whatever."

"Alright," Tenten said, not sounding worried about Ino's despair AT ALL. "Later, Ino."

Ino didn't bother to say goodbye. Tenten hung up on her before she had the chance anyway. "I'm running out of buttons here!"

—Speed Dial 6—

"Hello?" a male voice answered. Who did she program into six again?

"Hi," Ino said, smiling nonetheless.

"Who is this?" the man asked.

Ino pulled back her phone and looked at who she had called. _Sasuke Uchiha?_

"Sasuke, it's me, Ino!" she exclaimed, unable to believe he didn't recognize her voice. Well, she didn't recognize his either, but _that wasn't the point_.

Silence.

"Hello?" Ino asked. She looked at her cellphone screen. Call ended. "Really, Sasuke? Really?"

—Speed Dial 7—

This had to work. This _had_ to be the friend that was in _dire_ _need_ to hear her voice. Lucky number seven, right?

Ino sighed and hit the button, calling whoever it was she had programmed into number seven. (She wasn't really paying attention to anyone she called. She just knew she programmed someone to each number, so _someone_ had to care enough to talk to her, right?)

"Hello?" Shikamaru answered.

"Why are you all the way at number seven?" Ino asked without realizing she was saying it aloud. "Why did I program _Sasuke_ into my speed dial?"

"…That sounds like a personal problem," he said lazily.

"Huh? Oh, crap! I didn't mean to say that out loud," Ino laughed nervously. "…So, how's it goin'?"

There was a pause toolong for Ino's tastes. She thought he'd hung up on her until he said, "Is there a point to you calling me?"

Ino's jaw dropped. "Of course there's a point to me calling you, idiot!" She realized she had been yelling into her phone, so, she added sweetly, "I care deeply about what goes on in your life, Shika."

She could've sworn she heard his eyes roll. "Bye, Ino."

"No, come on, Shikamaru!" Ino begged. "Please, talk to me! I _need _conversation! You're supposed to be lucky number seven!"

There was a pause after all of Ino's begging until he said, "What?"

Ino facepalmed. "Forget it."

"Ino, I know you're just trying to get out of writing your English paper," Shikamaru sighed. Darn genius. "Why don't you go write it?"

"I hate English!" Ino exclaimed. "But since _no one_ wants to talk to me, fine, I guess I'll go do my English paper and wither away to nothingness because I have writer's block, so it's going to take me _forever_ to come up with an idea, and, once I finally come up with an idea, I'll write it down and get writer's cramp, and writer's cramp really hurts, so then I'll decide to type it, but my perfectly manicured nails won't allow me to type correctly, and then I'll forget all about my idea again—"

"You're so overdramatic," Shikamaru groaned.

"How dare you interrupt me!" Ino exclaimed. Though she _was_ getting tired of rambling and she realized her points were getting ridiculous. She sighed, backtracking. "Okay, look, Shikamaru. I'm sorry I yelled at you and started rambling. I just… wait a minute; do you have English right now?"

"No," he said, sounding skeptical. He knew she was concocting a devious plan.

"Oh, Shika," she said cheekily. "Would you like to help me with my English paper?"

There was a beat. "No."

Ino sighed, facepalming once again. "Please, Shikamaru? You're a super genius! You can help me work through this so much faster! Then, we can go do something together! I'll take you out to eat, I'll play Shogi with you, even though I despise it—"

"Alright, alright!" Shikamaru said. "Enough with the rambling; I'll help you!"

Ino gave a not-so-silent victory. "ThankyouShika!"

She heard him mumble something along the lines of, "How troublesome," but she didn't care.

"Come over to my house and we'll get started right away!" she told him.

"Wait, Ino, you never said anything about—"

"See you in a little bit!" And with that, she hung up. She didn't have to find out who were the last two numbers of her speed dial. Though, she should consider redoing it…

XxX

Shikamaru was sprawled out on Ino's floor while she was cross-legged on her bed with her laptop, typing away. She was almost done with her English paper.

"Alright, so after the girl goes down the seventh path, who should she meet?" Ino asked, stumped.

Shikamaru had suggested she based her story off of her speed dial experience. There was a girl who came upon seven gates in the wood, and she went through each one to meet a form of monster. All she was really looking for was a way out, but she hadn't found one yet until she approached the seventh gate. (Hey, the assignment was to write a fictional story, and Ino was shooting for a C.)

"A wizard that shows her the way out," Shikamaru said, sounding bored. Ino was bored at first, but then she really got into writing it. It's not like Shikamaru told her what to write word-for-word, and Ino was proud of that.

"Should his hair be pineapple-shaped like yours?" Ino asked, examining his hair.

Shikamaru shot her a look, and then self-consciously touched his hair. Ino laughed and continued typing.

In a lot of ways, her story was true. The first six (well, technically five because voicemail was the first) people she called had all hung up on her, refusing to aid in her procrastination. However, when she called Shikamaru, she managed to get him to help her with her English paper, which was like the wizard helping the girl out of the forest.

After it was all typed, Ino saved twice (because last time she didn't hit save, her laptop died, and she lost _everything_, and that absolutely SUCKED), and then clicked the space for a title. She couldn't come up with anything before, but, now, it was her finishing touch.

"What should we call it?" she asked Shikamaru, fingering the keys of her laptop.

"I don't know, it's your paper," Shikamaru mumbled. He had stolen one of the decorative, floral shaped pillows off of her bed and buried his face in it.

"You just don't want to have to do anymore work," Ino grumbled, to which Shikamaru gave her a thumbs-up.

Ino rolled her eyes and thought for a minute. Then, after eyeing Shikamaru, she grinned and typed: _Troublesome Number Seven_.

After saving about five more times (seriously, she was NOT going to let that happen again), she closed her laptop and hopped off the bed, kicking Shikamaru.

"So, the paper's finished," she told him. "What do you want to do?"

He thought.

"Shogi?" Ino suggested hesitantly. Seriously, she hated that game, especially since Shikamaru always _beat her at it_.

He shook his head. "Let's go out to eat."

"That sounds like a date," she teased, elbowing him. She wasn't entirely serious. After all, she _gave_ him the idea.

He shrugged, to which she responded by letting her jaw drop.

"Shikamaru, are you saying you want to go on a date with me?" Ino asked in disbelief.

He shrugged again and took her hand, leading her out of her bedroom. "You're paying, though."

She agreed with a grumbled, "Fine."


End file.
